The latest batch of applications for one of the planned — and coveted — 21 retail marijuana licenses to be assigned in the city includes a small swarm of new players looking to provide the most highly populated neighborhood of potential customers in Seattle with a pot shop. It also includes a big name already established in providing treats on Capitol Hill and beyond.

It is possible Capitol Hill could feature some of the yummiest edibles in Seattle.

In the mix of more than 400 applications from hundreds of individual applicants in Seattle is a company called Royale Leisure Industries, LLC. According to the State of Washington, the company’s “governing person” is none other than Cupcake Royale queen Jody Hall.

We’ve asked Hall for more information on the venture which lists Cupcake Royale’s Capitol Hill facility at 1111 E Pike as its location. UPDATE: A Cupcake Royale spokesperson declined to comment on the application. UPDATE: Thursday, Hall told us it has been a busy day shooing away TV cameras since CHS broke the news of her pot application yesterday.

“This isn’t about Cupcake Royale. We’d never make marijuana cupcakes,” she said.

“I thought I would throw my hat in the ring,” Hall told us.

Hall said the application process required a location for the proposed store so she applied with the existing E Pike main bakery address. Her plan is to open a retail bakery in a location that would fit within the bounds of local zoning and state laws if the application is one of those selected by the state for approval. But as the Seattle Time’s pot beat reporter noted following up on our initial report, Hall says it appears she will actually need a processing license to bake her own edibles. Hall might be able to change her application with the state control board. Bob Young, reporting on marijuana for the Seattle Times, says Hall would not be allowed to hold both a processing and a retail license. Meanwhile, it’s unclear how efforts like this Denver restaurant’s marijuana pairing menu might be handled in the city if a venue also provided the bud along with the dishes.

As for the potential of a Royale Leisure Industries bakery, “I’m not a stoner,” the woman who has turned cake and frosting into a seven store mini empire said. “We have the intellectual property and know-how to make yummy things.”

We’re still trying to track down people associated with the other newly released applications and will update if we get a chance to talk with any other of the ventures targeting Capitol Hill. One applicant — The 420 Highway — is seeking to put the former Bus Stop bar back into motion as a marijuana store.

In December, CHS reported on the application from a business called The Bud Ladyhoping to open a retail shop near 15th and Mercer. At the time, the state only listed 80 or so applications for Seattle. After a few weeks of processing at the deadline for applications, that number has leapt to more than 400 locations in the city with some applicants throwing their hats in at several different locations in Seattle. In November, we reported on land owner and entrepreneur Ian Eisenberg’s applications for a possible Uncle Ike’s shop at the intersection of 23rd and Union which is expected to be a retail marijuana hot spot no matter how zoning interpretations play out. Eisenberg and others have wagered the $250 fee and submitted multiple applications at multiple locations in hopes of scoring one of the 21 stores currently planned to be allotted in the city.

How the state control board’s lottery for areas with multiple applicants will work isn’t entirely clear nor is how the board will vet the applications for elements like leases and rental agreements. A “letter of intent” requirement was relaxed during the application process, CHS reported earlier.

Meanwhile, as marijuana entrepreneurs work toward opening retail shops later this year, the Seattle Police Department is still deciding whether off-duty officers will be allowed to provide security for the new businesses.

Currently there are no department policies prohibiting off-duty officers from providing security to retail marijuana shops or to medical marijuana shops, said SPD spokesperson Sean Whitcomb. However, Whitcomb said that policy is currently under review. Denver cops have been prohibited from working with retail pot operations.

“We’re not categorically saying no,” he said, adding that the department would be conferring with the city attorney and state attorney general in the coming months to make a decision.

The 21 successful applicants will be finalized later this winter with officials predicting the first stores in Washington in operation by June.

SPD staff should be allowed to moonlight as security guards anywhere that anyone else is allowed to do so.

Under no circumstances should they be allowed to wear an SPD badge or uniform while performing such non-public, hired-gun, work. The perceived authority that comes with those insignia should be reserved exclusively for their role as public servant.

I think anyone who pays the fee and demonstrates ability and willingness to do the job safely and within the rules should be granted license to do it. The faster we replace the black market, the better.

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